New guy here. I visited the Alchem website (first time in a long time) and found the link to this forum. WOW. It will take some time for me to digest everything here. I have been interested in crossbows since I can't remember when. I once visited the Grand Guru of crossbows, a guy named Gil Frey. I suspect that after Grandpa Bailey and George Stevens, Gil was the repository of more crossbow knowlege than anyone. I still have some of his correspondence. I phoned him up and talked a little about my interest in crossbows and asked if I were to make my way to Gaithersburg, MD, would he have a few moments to visit with me. Well, he invited me to stay at his home, and I spent two days in crossbow heaven. He was instrumental in the design of the Devastator crossbow. Cancer took away a real guiding light. I have a set of the Bailey target crossbow plans that I purchased from the National Crossbowman of the U.S.A. My favorite item of Gil's generosity is a page (the trigger) from a set of plans for what would have been the replacement for the Barnett Spirit target crossbow. The bow was to be named Spectre. I wish I had seen the full set of plans, but having the trigger page is pretty wonderful. I have quite a collection of commercial crossbow parts, stocks limbs, mounts that I keep saying I'm going to build something with. Hopefully this forum will inspire me to get off my duff and build something.

Arbalist,Good to have you here! I feel the same sadness to see the old crossbow craftsmen fading, but you will find that people on this forum keep their memory and ideas alive, and I suspect, some of the members here, may well be the new stars. Infact I feel priviledged to amongst such learned company.

Yeah, aren't we great? (Geezer proceeds to dislocate an arm patting himself on the back) Hey Lightly, can you gimmie a hand here? Durn, she doesn't get in till noon. Ahh well.... inordinately prod to be one of the Few (or is it Phew?) Now off to Fedex with some deliveries. Geezer.

Glad to learn of your great interest in crossbow building and yes this is indeed a hard thing to lose a good friend, but it is our memories that keep them alive in our hearts and the knowledge that they have passed down that makes them the unforgettable legends that we so admire. Long live the crossbow building community, so that it's legendary craftsmen live on with it.

I hope that this place offers the good ground for your projects realizations...all you ideas and suggestions are most welcome here.

I have a ton of parts from commercial crossbows (stocks, prods, mounts, etc), plus some Power Tuff limb material, plus some really old Power Tuff compound limb blanks with the bellies ground and the cutouts for the cams and axles. I have a Barnett Spirit prod, and a field crossbow stock (unfinished) with double set tournament trigger from Red Lion Crossbows. I just need to get off my duff and start using some of this stuff.

Well then get of that bum!!! ...just joking, I myself have very little time these days. If you have already something on the way, mstarting a topic in the Crossbow Workshop - posting your process and it's progress can be fun and will certainly help you get things rolling more smoothly with people helping out with what they can...a live build of sort. Looking forward to seing your crossbow...Have fun!